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The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Sector Programme (KESP) 2 Technical Assistance (TA) team’s mission is to work at provincial, sub-provincial and school level to provide comprehensive, flexible and high-quality technical support to the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in ensuring the rapid implementation of its strategy and priorities for transforming education service delivery. The TA constitutes a component of the wider DFID and DFAT-funded KESP 2 programme, which also includes Sector Budget Support, and an infrastructure component.

A new Education Sector Plan (ESP) for 2015-2020 has recently been launched, with an accompanying Joint Review Framework (JRF) and describes the KP Government’s comprehensive and ambitious strategy for the development of the elementary and secondary school sector in the Province. It details ten priorities: (i) redeveloping the approach to training and selecting new teachers; (ii) developing a consolidated, needs-based, high-quality approach to CPD; (iii) redeveloping teaching cadre employment rules; (iv) establishing a sustainable approach to provision of facilities; (v) launching new benefits aimed at children most at risk of educational deprivation; (vi) scaling up partnerships with the private sector; (vii) launching a drawdown fund for use in emergency situations; (viii) testing and updating of population data; (ix) developing management skills of district officials; and (x) pegging the education budget to inflation.

Background

As a part of the Elementary & Secondary Education Department’s (E&SED) reform efforts to improve textbooks from class 1-10, a three-phase initiative began in the mid-2016: Phase 1: Revision of 15 selected textbooks for classes 1-5 by November 2016; Phase 2: Revision of nine selected textbooks for classes 6-8 by October 2017; and Phase 3: Revision of ten textbooks for classes 9-10 by September 2018.

In the first phase, the TA team assisted the revision and review of textbooks by engaging with the authors from private publishers, the reviewers at the TBB, and the reviewers at the DCTE. The revisions have been completed and the revised textbooks have been received favourably by E&SED. The work on Phase 2 is also approaching its completion. It is worth noting that the revision of the textbooks is guided by the approved minimum national standards for the textbooks.

Phase 3, which focuses on classes 9-10, has recently been initiated. The TA’s initial strategy was to provide additional writing support to the TBB subject specialists. However, in August 2017, TBB engaged freelance textbook authors specialising in English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology for class 9. KESP TA team revised its earlier approach from provision of additional writing support to pairing each TBB author with a subject expert. This revised approach took into consideration the specialised nature of secondary school subjects and is describe in the following table.

According to this new approach TBB Authors and Subject Experts will pair up and work under guidance of the Senior Textbook Advisors (STAs) at each step of the process. Introducing Subject Experts as collaborators as well as reviewers adds an extra layer of support and quality assurance with an aim to ensure the preparation of high-quality textbooks. The quality assurance reviews will be conducted by both the Subject Experts as well as the STAs to ensure coverage of both the content and presentation in accordance with the minimum standards for textbooks approved by Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference (IPEMC) in February 2016.

Specific Responsibilities of Subject Experts

Assist the TBB authors on every step of the textbook revision process (as described above). This will involve providing immediate and continuous feedback/assistance to the TBB authors in close consultation with the STAs.

Review the content of the textbooks developed by TBB authors and recommend changes in the manuscripts with an aim to ensure accuracy/integrity of subject content.

Ensure alignment of the revised manuscripts with the minimum standards for textbooks. The SEs will work closely with the STAs.

Final proofreading of the textbooks prior to final approval and printing.

Deliverables

Reviewed textbooks for Physics, Chemistry and Biology for class 9-10 in accordance with the minimum standards for presentation of curricular contents in the textbooks.

Content review, as well as constructive and structured feedback to the TBB authors.

Penultimate manuscripts for review by the DCTE.

Duration

10th November 2017 to 30th September 2018; up to 60 days on each subject. 30 days for Class 9 and 30 days for Class 10.

Location of work

The experts will be based in Islamabad and Peshawar as applicable.

Qualifications

Essential:

First Class Master’s degree or similar academic qualification in the relevant subject (Physics, Chemistry or Biology).

Preferred:

MPhil or a higher level academic qualification in the relevant subject (Physics, Chemistry or Biology).

Experience

At least five years of teaching experience in the relevant subject to class 9 and 10 or O levels in a reputed institution.

Demonstrable experience in the review/writing of secondary level textbooks in the above-mentioned subjects.

About the Organization

Adam Smith International Limited (ASIL) has built upon the original ideas of Adam Smith as these apply to policy and practice in modern economic development and government reform. The practical policy reforms advanced by ASIL to promote the benefits of competition and individual liberty have been central to the social and economic success of many societies and their governments throughout the world. ASIL's philosophy stems from a group of core values, which we have applied to the problems of developing and transitional countries all over the world. These values focus on fostering:
- Competitive markets
- Honest government
- Individual liberties
ASIL's consulting and training divisions, informed by these values, have helped many governments to reduce poverty and improve the living standards of their people. ASIL's areas of advisory, consultancy and training work include:
- Enterprise restructuring and corporate governance
- Public administration and governance reform
- Utility restructuring and regulation
- Infrastructure privatisation policy and execution
- Trade reform
- Conflict resolution and negotiations support
Our focus is on the provision of cutting edge economic and governance thinking underpinned by practical support for ministers, officials, managers and citizens at all levels. We work with governments, enterprises and aid agencies on a short or long term project basis, or through tailor-made training programmes.

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